Germany's Oldest Crypto Exchange Stuck in MiCA Limbo as Losses Mount

Bitcoin.de, Germany's oldest crypto exchange with more than 1.1 million registered users, has gone three months without offering trading, leaving customers able only to withdraw funds while the platform waits on regulatory approval under the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation.

Trading on the exchange has been suspended since the end of June. The stoppage stems from the ongoing MiCA licensing process at futurum bank, the entity that operates Bitcoin.de. Until that process concludes, the platform cannot resume the buying and selling of crypto assets that made it a fixture of the German market.

The suspension is tied to a broader planned overhaul of the exchange. Bitcoin.de intends to move away from its original peer-to-peer marketplace model and relaunch as a classic crypto broker, adding more than 100 other assets alongside cryptocurrencies. The relaunch is also meant to bring savings plans, crypto swaps, a new website and a new trading app. None of that can go live until the MiCA licence for futurum bank is in place.

Financial results deteriorate

The prolonged standstill has coincided with a sharp downturn in the finances of Bitcoin Group, the parent company behind Bitcoin.de. First-half revenue fell from 3.78 million euros a year earlier to 1.59 million euros, a decline of almost 60 percent. EBITDA, a measure of operating profitability, worsened from minus 1 million euros to minus 3.25 million euros over the same period.

The company's balance sheet still shows a comparatively strong equity ratio of 71.8 percent, and Bitcoin Group holds its own crypto assets with a net value of almost 199 million euros at the end of the first half. Those holdings offer a buffer, but they do not resolve the operational problem at the heart of the business: an exchange that cannot trade.

Regulatory bottleneck

The case illustrates the friction European crypto firms are encountering as they transition into the MiCA regime. Licensing timelines set by national and EU regulators have, in this instance, left one of the sector's longest-established platforms sidelined for a quarter of a year, with customers unable to trade and the parent company reporting mounting losses in the meantime.

No timeline has been given for when futurum bank's MiCA licence is expected to be granted, or when Bitcoin.de's broker relaunch, with its expanded asset list and new features, will go live.